If you have depressive thoughts, you might be thinking that it's a burden to have to ride to work, or you might think that You're too tired or too weak to do it. Try to replace those thoughts with more realistic thoughts. Like riding will make you happier, or stronger. Bear in mind that usually just getting started is the hardest part.

So just ride to the end of the block, and tell yourself that you can turn back if it's still too much. I practically guarantee that you will be able to go the rest of the way, once you get to the end of the block. If not, ride home, but try it again the next day. Before too long, you will make it to work, and you'll feel much better for it. Fresh air, sunlight and exercise are the best therapy for SAD and other low grade affective disorders. Even for Major Affective Disorder. I hope this helps. I have an MA in Clinical Psychology and I've worked with depressed people for many years, so I think this is good advice.

remove the battery from your car or slash your own tires.

Your in-cage commute must be on the mild side for this area.

Traffic in the cage on HWY 9 usually does it for me. :) If not then I get on 400 ... or try to. ;)

It has been for the last few days with all the Emory folks gone for the holidays. :D

My hands are always cold at work. You know how old this building. They don't like to turn the heat up here and I have two outside walls and two windows with cracked and missing caulk.

I refuse to drive on 400 during a weekday. How in the world you can have an 8 lane highway (4 lanes each direction) come to a complete stop for no apparent reason just kills me. It's not like I'm Mario Andretti or anything, but dang! WTF? :eek:

I've never had to follow-through with this tip, because from my experience, it works.

Go out planning to turn back after a mile (or a half-mile) if it's too cold/hot/muggy/rainy/snowy/icy/dark/tiring/whatever.

No matter how much I really didn't want to leave the house (let alone ride), after a quarter mile or so, I'm happy to be out and kicking myself for wasting so much energy on dithering.

I've been thinking about this some more. I've come to the conclusion that I commute for fun and to get out of my little car. If I did not enjoy commuting by bike, I would not do it, as its not the only way for me to get to work. So, I say if you aren't enjoying your ride due to the cold weather, take some time off. We do live in the metro Atlanta area. There will be plenty of days in the 50's and 60's even in January, February, and March.

I mean this aint the army, and aint no one forcing you to ride. So don't if you don't want to.

Oh, yeah...Happy New Years to everyone.

Speaking as one who battles S.A.D. every winter, I feel your pain. I have used light treatment in the past with a row of a dozen fluorescent light fixtures lined up against the wall. I get up about an hour earlyin the morning and sit in front of the very bright light bank and read/study/work at the computer. It has helped me. Here is a link to a factsheet for SAD.

Come on, with right gear, how cold are you actually going to be on the bike? Not at all! You'll be shedding layers and wiping your brow! You'd be hot - an awesome feeling on a cold day (50 degrees isn't cold though... really... :)).

It aint 50F in the morning. Like I said earlier 27F for this morning's rush hour commute. I think that's close to -3 C?

Exactly. You have it far better than the majority of the U.S. to commute in, so get on the bike.

i don't understand the purpose of answering someone simply to tell them you don't relate to their situation and/or wouldn't be affected by it if you did . . .

heh. boy, can i relate to this. it's along the same principle as chronic pain being more of a demoraliser than short moments of the more serious kind. the test lab where i spend most of my time these days includes an 'isolated' server room along one wall, that basically doesn't do its job of keeping the servers at the right temperatures. so the 'solution' is to keep the whole place cold enough that people have been known to go home because they're too cold to concentrate. it's getting to me too. when i've been just-this-side-of-the-shivers for eight or nine hours despite gloves and long johns and typing one-handed while sitting on the other one to warm it up, damned straight i don't really look forward to the ride home, even if it is 'only' near freezing. i realise none of it is all that cold in absolute terms, but you get bleeping-well tired of being cold all the time.

i'm getting by by counting the days. then spring will come, and my kid's baseball season, and i'll be freezing my arse off all over again for a different reason.

Just take it one step further and just tell yourself you’ll try 5 minutes worth of the tip. Head out and if you are still miserable after 5 minutes then come back home. Then next time try to fix whatever the problem was. It’s hard to get cold weather gear just right and the confidence that the gear is going to work as you do tend to start out cold but then you warm up. The short answer is you have to figure out some way to dive to see if you do have the right gear and a way to bail out if you don’t. Once you get the right gear riding in any temperature (within some limits) is no big deal.

Also check the temp on-line with Weather.com or listen to the weather report, a blast of cold air when you are not dressed for it is very discouraging.

:D

Hey, tough love. I'm just gonna let you miss out on the best riding time of the year until you hit bottom!

Thanks Pete. I needed that. :p

Hey, man. I had to ask what SAD was. Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Hey, Ron! Maybe what you need is a good bike ride to wipe those cobwebs out! Recently, I woke up feeling like, "no way I'm gonna make it today. I'm gonna ride the train." But I got wild and rode the bike anyway. Had the best day after that. Just blew all the junk out of my spirit/mind/body (or something like that. :D )

Every morning I used to wake up and think - I should drive today. It's too late, too cold, too wet, I'm too tired, endless excuses. For me the answer was to make this simple rule:

--- Ride every day, no matter what ---

That way I don't have to think about whether to ride or not. I've already decided. It became a challenge, a point of pride - nothing is going to keep me from riding today! Anyway, invariably, I am thrilled to be riding 5 minutes after I'm on the bike.

Cheap mental trick, I know, but it works for me.

I've only turned back once, and it was at about the 1/4 mile mark. I was very sick but trying to convince myself that I could go into work. At the 1/4 mile mark, I could still barely turn the pedals and had to bow to common sense.

Can you get hot water? I find when my fingers are cold, a short soak in hot water perks them right up. Also at work, I keep a small lap blanket to cover my legs when they get cold.

Hot water?? What's that? :(
I brought a small space heater and desk lamp to work today.
I'm hoping the lamp will help with the S.A.D. My office has only a single incandescant fixture on the ceiling and the way my desk is positioned it is behind me. The lamp lights up my desk so I can actually see things.
The heater is helping too. :)

Holy crap!! GTcommuter just stopped by my office and said if I don't stop whining and get back in the saddle he's gonna whip my ***!! :eek:

All right GTcommuter!
Ron, it is 62° outside. If you rode your bike today, you'd be happy now.

You people suck. It's 20F and snowing out. If I did not have my 3 year old I would grab my mountain bike and ride around the block. Being stuck inside is not one of my strong points.

j/k about the whip my *** part, but he did give me some grief about not riding. :o



I drove today so I could bring a small space heater and a desk lamp. Now I can see what I'm doing at work and it helps the S.A.D.
But I did wear shorts if that counts. :p

Things are looking better for Tuesday.